Ignazio Visco (; born 21 November 1949) is an Italian

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

er and

Governor of the Bank of Italy The Governor of the Bank of Italy is the most senior position in the Bank of Italy. It is nominally a civil service post, but the appointment tends to be from within the bank, with the incumbent grooming his or her successor. List of Governors ...

from 2011 to 2023.

Early life and education

Visco was born in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

on 21 November 1949. He obtained a ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' degree in economics from the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

in 1971 with Federico Caffè as supervisor and continued his studies at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

( Economics Department), where he obtained an MA in 1974 and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Economics in 1981.

Career

In 1972, Visco began his career at the

Bank of Italy The Bank of Italy (Italian language, Italian: ''Banca d'Italia'', , informally referred to as ''Bankitalia'') is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Italy within the Eurosystem. It was the Italian central bank from ...

and in 1990 he was named head of the research department; from 1997 to 2002 he was chief economist of the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

(OECD) and on 9 January 2007 he was named deputy director-general of the Bank of Italy (alongside Giovanni Carosio) and a member of its ''Direttorio'' (Board of Directors). On 24 October 2011, Visco was named to succeed

Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, banker, statesman, and civil servant, who served as the prime minister of Italy from 13 February 2021 to 22 October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime mi ...

as governor of the Bank of Italy by Italian President

Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; 29 June 1925 – 22 September 2023) was an Italian politician who served as President of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first to be re-elected to the office. In office for 8 years and 244 days, he was the longest-serving pre ...

. Starting from 1 January 2013, in accordance with Legislative Decree 95/12 (converted into law, with modifications, from Law no.135/2012), he also holds the position of chairman of the joint governing board of the Italian Insurance Supervisory Authority (IVASS). On 28 January 2015, Visco was placed under investigation by the Prosecutor of Spoleto as part a probe into the special administration of

Banca Popolare di Spoleto Banca Popolare di Spoleto S.p.A. is an Italian bank based in Spoleto, Umbria region. It was a subsidiary of Banco di Desio e della Brianza. History Banca Cooperativa Popolare in Spoleto Soc. Coop. was found on 28 April 1895 by Professor Giulio ...

. In September 2016, the case was definitively dropped by a judge, upholding the prosecutor's request. During his time in office, Visco came under fire for failing to effectively tackle Italy's banking woes. In October 2017, the country's ruling centre-left Democratic Party submitted a motion in Parliament calling for new leadership at the Bank of Italy, casting doubt on Visco's chances of being reappointed to a second term. Following a proposal made by Prime Minister

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who was European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024. He had previously served as prime minister of Italy ...

and his cabinet to renominate Visco and the endorsement of the Bank of Italy's high council, President

Sergio Mattarella Sergio Mattarella (; born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician and jurist who has served as the president of Italy since 2015. He is the longest-serving president in the history of the Italian Republic. Since Giorgio Napolitano's death in 20 ...

signed a decree to reappoint Visco for a second six-year term.

Other activities

European Union institutions

* European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), Ex-Officio Member

International organizations

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

, ex-officio member of the Board of Governors *

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...

, ex-officio member of the Board of Directors *

Financial Stability Board The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established in the 2009 G20 Pittsburgh Summit as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) ...

, ex-officio member of the steering committee *

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

, alternate member of the Board of Governors *

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

(IMF), alternate member of the Board of Governors *

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...

, member * Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, member *

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, ex-officio member of the Board of Governors

Non-profit organizations

* Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori, Member of the International Advisory BoardInternational Advisory Board
nbsp;Osservatorio Permanente Giovani-Editori.

Works

*''Price Expectations in Rising Inflation'', North Holland, 1984. . *''Le aspettative nell'analisi economica'', Il Mulino, 1985 *''Inflazione, concorrenza e sviluppo'' (with Stefano Micossi), Il Mulino, 1993. . *''Saving and the Accumulation of Wealth'' (with Albert Ando and Luigi Guiso), Cambridge University Press, 1994 *''L'economia italiana'' (with Federico L. Signorini), Il Mulino, 2002 *''Ageing and Pension System Reform'' (as Chairman of the G-10 Working Group), 2005
PDF
*''Investire in conoscenza'', Il Mulino, 2009

Awards and honors

References

External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Visco, Vincenzo 1949 births Governors of the Bank of Italy Italian bankers Italian economists Living people Writers from Naples Sapienza University of Rome alumni Wharton School alumni